CBS announced this week that it will cancel "As the World Turns" -- a show that has been a cornerstone of its daytime lineup since 1956. It really should come as no surprise, however. As the Associated Press explained it its story on the cancellation: "Daytime dramas have been fading as a genre for years with . . . the increased number of channels offering alternatives like news, talk, reality and game shows. In tough economic times, paying casts, producers and writers proved prohibitive to networks when there were cheaper alternatives."

Another chink in the armor of the supposed big bad media companies that (we are told) are stifling dissenting views and threatening our republican form of government. When are those who hold themselves out as "consumer advocates" going to stop trying to hamstring media companies and instead start worrying about how high-cost entertainment and news programming will be financed in the new media environment?

No time soon, it would appear. While television networks like CBS wrestle with real world economic challenges, the so-called consumer advocates are preoccupied with the same ridiculous bogeymen they've been haunted by for years - this time hiding under the bed made by the proposed combination of Comcast and NBC. I don't know whether Comcast can help revive NBC, but we had all better hope that somebody can.